Beyond the looking glass
by Sillvog
Summary: With Ryuuku plotting and playing mind games with Raito, it is up to L to save his new best friend. The only problem is, can he save him from himself or will Kira win in the end?
1. Chapter 1

Death Note "Beyond the looking glass"

With Ryuuku plotting and playing mind games with Raito, it is up to L to save his new best friend. The only problem is, can he save him from himself or will Kira win in the end?

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of its characters.

It was the same Monday as it almost always was for Raito, eat breakfast, go to school, take copious notes, eat lunch, fill in the correct answers to a test, or at least what the school considered to be a 'test', and then head home. This day however, varied from his typically normal school days in that at some point during his last class of the day, from the corner of his eye, he caught a black object rapidly descending from the sky.

At first he had thought that it was a crow come to scavenge whatever it could find on the ground, after all, there were a lot of students who ate their lunches outside. Some would almost assuredly leave a bit of it behind in the form of small crumbs or carelessly placed trash.

As he turned his head fully to the side with the feeling that watching a bird look for food would be more interesting than paying full attention to the teacher prattle on about mathematical formulas that he 'already' know how to do, he was forced to reject his idea about the black object being a bird at all as he saw it promptly hit the ground, at least a live bird anyway.

With his attention momentarily solely on the mysterious black object, he jolted out of surprise when the bell rang, signaling the end of his last class and time for him to head home. Temporarily forgetting the object, he packed his things and left to go home.

As he was exiting the school's doors, the same black object caught his eye for a second time. It appeared that no one was making a move towards it and his curiosity sparked. The object had been there for at least 5 minutes after he had watched it fall.

Upon reaching it he saw that it was actually a notebook of some kind. He looked up thinking someone probably dropped it from the school's roof and noted that the book was too far away from the roof to have accidentally been dropped. Someone would have had to throw it to be this far from the roof.

This highly intrigued him, so he bent down to pick up the note book and hopefully read who it belonged to so he could return it, as well as find out how it had come to be here.

The moment he touched it a small electric shock went through his mind and he became slightly dizzy. He attributed this to the fact that he had bent to fast in picking it up, thus causing circulation of the blood to his head to be disrupted. He quickly overcame the momentary feeling of imbalance and the discomfort of a headache slowly starting up in favor of reading the cover of the book.

"Death Note" he read aloud.

Noticing several stares he received from curious classmates to his speaking to nothing but thin air, he decided to continue reading it at home and return it to its owner tomorrow.

As he got home, he swiftly greeted his mother and left to the sanctity of his room up stares. He unpacked the notebook he had found and started to read.

"How to Use"

"The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die."

"This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected."

"If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen."

"If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack."

"After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds."

'_What kind of sick joke is this? This is a lot of work for just a prank. Do I even want to find its owner? No, I don't think I would like to meet the person who concocted this idea. Ugg, my head is killing me!'_

As he put down the notebook to get some aspirin to try and fight off the almost titanic proportioned throbbing in his head, a lone figure on a telephone pole outside his window smiled only to display a wicked toothy grin filled with yellow teeth that resembled a sharks' mouth.

'_Hehehe, it won't be long now'._

Raito, deciding that his persistent headache would keep him from being able to concentrate on his studying, went down to the living room to watch the news while the medicine did its best to ease the throbbing between his ears. Just as he flipped on the television, a news broadcast came on that caught his attention and made his blood run cold.

His mother, who had noticed him taking some aspirin earlier, walked into the living room to ask if he was feeling all right. She took one look at the TV and immediately screamed while her legs collapsed underneath her. This brought Raito out of his temporary shock and to his screaming mother's side. The news on the TV went on indifferently to the distress it was causing.

"The killer who indiscriminately killed 6 people yesterday in Shinjuku's Hanka District is still locked up in the preschool with the teacher, a high school student, and 7 children as hostages." The TV abruptly changed to the picture of an older man and continued. "The police suspect Kurou Otoharada, 42, unemployed."

"Sayu! Sayu!" His mother was screaming and crying. This confirmed his worried suspicions that the high school student that was part of the hostages was in fact his little sister Sayu. She often went back to her old preschool to talk to her former teacher about career moves. Sayu saw the old teacher as a role model and had wanted to be a teacher ever since.

His mother had more than likely given his little sister a special dessert to share with the old teacher as a thank you for helping her daughter. That must be how she knew the high school student was in all likelihood Sayu.

As he tried to calm his mother down, without warning his headache started to increase tenfold. He would have doubled over in pain if he hadn't thought that if his mother saw him in such a state now she would really lose it. So he gritted his teeth and took it the best he could, letting as little pain show as possible.

That's when he heard it, an almost silent whisper in the back of his mind that said just one thing, '_notebook'_.

He didn't know if he was becoming delirious from the pain or if he had heard the voice at all, but at that moment, the news caught his attention again just in time to see Sayu at gunpoint through the window of the school.

'_The notebook'_ the eerily familiar voice said again. This time, with seeing his sister about to be shot through the head, something clicked. The 'notebook' was the Death Note he had found earlier that day and 'it' could save Sayu.

He rushed to his room throwing open his door with near breaking force. He quickly opened the notebook taking a nearby pencil in his hand and was about to write the name of the criminal threatening the life of his sister when he hesitated. With his hand hovering over the notebook, he abruptly thought that if he wrote down the name he would become a murderer, if it even worked.

As he thought this, he suddenly heard a wailing cry from downstairs knowing it was his mother. His thoughts about being a murderer quickly subsided as he wrote down the name of the criminal. He then rushed back downstairs to his mother's side and waited for the results of his writing in the notebook to take effect. His hope that writing in it would help his sister was falling with each second that passed by.

He continued to watch the news and mentally counted the seconds till he reached 40. He waited with bated breath and an ever-quickening pulse as nothing happened. The news anchor suddenly announced out.

"Oh! The hostages are coming out! Seems like everyone is fine and now the police are now storming the school. Have they made the arrest?!"

His mother, now crying tears of relief rather than worry, realized that Sayu was safe and rather abruptly fainted. The news continued.

"Oh! They're coming back out. I don't see the suspect. What's going on?"

Raito, now having moved his sleeping mother on to the couch from the floor, started to watch the news again.

"We just got word that the suspect has died! They are saying the suspect is dead! The police are saying they did not fire any shots. Could it be a suicide? According to the hostages, the suspect just collapsed."

As Raito processed the new news, his head felt like it was about to explode from the inside out. He fell to the floor clutching his head in pain. He felt sick to his stomach and the corners of his clenched eyes started to water with unshed tears. Just as he felt himself about to go unconscious, he cracked open his eyes and could swear he saw a tall bluish figure with large yellow teeth smile at him before his world turned dark.


	2. Chapter 2

I have to admit that with 2 other stories going at the same time I did not think I would be getting back to this one so quickly. It took me over 4 hours to do this, that's just sad. Anyway, this is based on the manga rahter than the series, and in case you can't tell, the italic inner thoughts are quite special. Well on with the story.

--

When Raito woke up the first thing the noticed was that his headache had receded to the point of almost being unnoticeable. He figured the medicine had done a wonderful job for working so fast. But something wasn't right, when had he gone to sleep? He couldn't remember, and now that he thought about it, the medication he took wasn't supposed to cause drowsiness to such a degree that he would go to sleep without changing from his school cloths into something more comfortable. He decided to look at the expiration date on all the medicine in the cabinet later.

As he sat up he looked over to the clock on his nightstand and saw that it was 6:25, his cram school would be starting soon and it was time to go. He got off the bed and started to pack his numerous books and folders when he finally noticed one open note book on his desk with a single name written in it.

'Kurou Otoharada' Raito said the name aloud, and as though it were a trigger being pulled on a gun, he was suddenly hit with the events leading up to him writing the name and then, nothing. He nearly started to panic. He couldn't recall how it all had ended. Did his sister die? How was mother doing? Did his father know about what was happening to his daughter? He ran out of his room and sprinted down the stairs and then skidded to a stop into the living room.

What he found there scared him almost as badly as when he remembered what had happened prior to his going to sleep. No one was there and everything looked fine. Was all that he remembered just a dream? No, that couldn't be right; he had seen the name written in the note book. That was physical proof that something had happened. The longer and harder he thought about it, the more he could remember. By the time he made it into the kitchen, he could recall almost everything. Looking around he found a note on the refrigerator addressed to him.

'_Raito, I had to step out to get some groceries for dinner tonight. I set your alarm clock in time for you to make it to your cram school. I'm really proud that you're so dedicated to your studies, but you should take it easy once in a while. Don't push yourself so hard that you start having nightmares or have a mental breakdown. Love mom'._

Just as he finished reading the note, his alarm clock sounded. He could hear it all the way from the kitchen.

As he stepped up to his alarm clock to turn it off he couldn't help but smile. It was a birthday gift from his father to help him wake up since he was such a heavy sleeper that most times anything less than a shove out of bed would not wake him up. The foreign clock did an amazing job of giving him a heart attack every time it went off.

His mother's casual note and the fact that Sayu was not home from school were starting to make him doubt that anything had happened at all. He started to question himself. Was the name there before? Was the name not written by him at all? Was it the name of the owner of it? Or was it a name written down by the previous person who had found it? He finally settled that it didn't 

matter at the moment; he was going to be late if he didn't get going now. He grabbed the Death Note and shoved it into his bag to think about later.

As he sat down in his regular seat for cram school, he noticed most of the other students were staring at him. He became slightly unnerved; he was good enough looking for girls to do it sure, but not this many guys as well. Then the teacher walled into the class room and a large number of students tried to scramble into their seats.

As the teacher was taking roll call he stopped after Raito confirmed that he was present as well. The teacher looked up from his papers to Raito with a look of both slight shock and concern.

"Yagami-kun, you didn't have to come to class today, you can go home if you want. You're a nationally top racked student. Missing one or two days of class won't make the rest of us look bad."

Raito didn't understand it; did he look so tired that even his teacher was telling him to go home? Sure he still had a little of his headache from before, but he had gone to class in worse conditions than this.

"No, it's ok. I feel fine. Thanks for your concern, but why did you think I would miss class?"

At Raito's statement more than half the class turned around in their seats to get a good look at him. Most were shocked faces, some admiring, and others still with incredulity. The teacher looked almost sympathetically at him.

"Well, with what happened to your sister yesterday, I thought that you might miss class like you did last night. It would be perfectly understandable if you did, but if you are feeling up to it, then I see no problem with you attending class today." And with that, the teacher started up roll call again.

Raito sat speechless. Things just didn't add up. The teacher knew about his sister, but that was just a dream wasn't it? And what did he mean by missing class the other night, he had attended. And did he say what happened to his sister happen _yesterday_? That was today, just four hours ago wasn't it? He got out his class note book and sure enough, last night's notes were staring him strait in the face.

At this point the teacher had finished roll call and was about to start class. As he did every night, he started by recapping what he had taught the previous night. Only thing was, they were not last nights' notes, at least not for Raito. He noted that everyone else looked fine, like they understood and knew what the teacher was talking about. His confusion must have shown on his face because one of the girls next to him smiled at and asked if he would like to copy her notes from yesterday. He gave one of his most charming smiles and replied that he would be grateful if she could lend it to him, even though he didn't really need them. The blushing girl quickly agreed 

and almost shoved the notes into him with her haste. He paid no attention to the jealous stares she was getting form her friends.

Raito was now wondering just what was happening around him. On the top of her notes was her name, he looked for it so he could properly thank her later but that was not what startled him, it was the date on the page. It was today's date for Monday, but for what the teacher had said was yesterday's notes. It dawned on him that he was missing a day. It was like this morning when he found the Death Note was not this morning but yesterday for everyone one else. He was missing 24 hours of memories. Today was Tuesday!

He finished copying the notes and handed them back to the girl properly thanking her for them then tried to concentrate on the lecture for the remainder of the class, but to his dismay, he could only think about what happened yesterday and the most probable cause of it. The theorized several things. One, it could be that the events so traumatized him that he had just forgotten what happened. Two, he could had gotten sick and slept for 24 hours. Or three, the Death Note could have something to do with it. It did have supernatural powers didn't it? But that couldn't be, could it? The death of that man could have just been a coincidence.

Again that strange nagging voice in the back of his mind started to speak. _'One time isn't enough'_. Raito found himself agreeing, one person isn't enough to prove that the note book had that kind of power. If he wanted to be sure, he would have to test it again. At this revelation he found himself appalled that he would even consider doing such a thing. And yet again the voice he now recognized as his own inner musings spoke again. _'Someone it doesn't matter to kill, someone that deserves to die, like before, if it weren't for the note book, Sayu would be dead along with 7 innocent children and a kind old teacher'_. He couldn't argue with that. It was true, if the note book could take life, than if was thanks to it _'to him'_that they were all ok.

While packing his things to go back home he started to think, just to think, not to do. _"So another criminal then? But if it's someone too famous, then the news may be kept secret for a while. I want the results immediately?'_ Just as he was thinking this he saw two big tough looking students approach a small boy in the back of the classroom.

"Hay Ryochin!"

"What Sudou-kun?"

"Could you lend me 20 dollars?"

"What...again…?"

"Yay! Let's go to the arcade tonight!" As Sudou said this he high fived his other big friend leaving Ryochin behind, obviously not planning to take him with them or pay him back.

Raito's eyes sharpened at the too blatant bullying and extortion going on around him. 'Sudou. Should I try to kill him? No, it shouldn't be someone so close to me. Maybe I shouldn't worry. Nobody would think of anything if a few guys like him died.' He pulled himself out of his morbid musings. He knew it wasn't healthy to think like this and it was out of character for him to do so, but he found he just couldn't help it. And besides, thinking these thinks didn't make him inherently evil or anything. He had tried to help people like Ryochin before, only it never worked out. The kid would just submit the next time he was not around to stop it. He couldn't watch over someone the rest of their life. He would have to have to resolve to stand up for himself before he could be helped.

At the exit of the building he could overhear the other students talking to each other.

"Hay Maki, want to go drinking with some college students tomorrow at 10?"

"Sure!"

"How about me?"

"Damn, where the fuck is my mom?!"

That sinister voice was back. _"Jeez…look at all these people…I start to think the world would be better off without all of them."_Raito had nothing to say.

Just as he was going into a convenience store to get something else for still present pain, three punks on motorcycles came up onto the sidewalk right behind him cornering a young woman and making her shriek in surprise.

"Hey lady" the closest one started. "Wanna come hang with us?"

"Whoa, Taku-san is going after a hottie!" said the smallest one on his bike blocking her from running into the store to get away.

"Shibuimaru Takuo, they call me Shibutaku. Hehe, go out with me, lady." He lowered his sunglasses to show his face. If he was scary looking before, now he was scary looking and unattractive.

"I'm sorry… I already have someone." The woman stated nervously as she tried to step around them to get into the store.

"Oh! Rejected!" loudly joked the one blocking her exit and moving his bike to continue to do so.

After seeing all this Raito continued to walk into the store. He picked up a magazine outside the window that gave a clear view of what was happening outside the store. He continued to discreetly watch. The people outside were trying to ignore the woman's plight and quickly passed by despite her trying to get help.

The bicker that was rejected became infuriated and tried to grab the woman while the others laughed. This was quickly becoming dangers for her; she looked into the store and right at Raito, her eyes practically begging him for help. Raito made a decision. He took out the Death Note and put it in-between the magazine he was holding. He closed his eyes and took a breath. He started to write the man's name with the cause of death as an accident and then started to silently count. _'What will happen?!"_

The woman seeing what she figured her last hope for rescue close his eyes ran into the street, the only path she had open left for her to take with the bikes blocking all others.

The bikers started to yell. "Oh, she's getting away!"

The one harassing her started his bike and gave chase, "Hey, I'm on a bike." he called out to the others.

Suddenly one of the others called out. "Taku! Watch out!"

Raito looked and saw what the other had given warning about. Just then an eighteen wheeler crashed into the bike.

"_That's it! The Death Note is real!"_ The voice started to harmonize with his own, how he had always known it. He could hear voices screaming all around him.

"Taku!"

"I'm outta here!"

"That idiot just jumped into the street!"

Raito left the behind all of the chaos he had caused and could still hear things.

"What? An accident!?" said someone as they passed him by trying to see what was going on.

He staggered and leaned against a wall feeling sick. '_I've killed two people. _I killed… two people… I did. What should I do now? A terrifying notebook like this, no. _Who cares if that murderer died_, but what about the second one? He didn't deserve death…' His inner voice supplied _'No, It's what I'm always thinking. This world it rotten! The rotten should die!"_ Hesitantly he thought, 'I can do it, with this notebook. The only problem is…_My mind…it's only been two people _and I'm like this_… _of course, these are lives_…it can't be easy. _Can I stand it?Should I quit_? No, I can't quit, even if it costs me my mind and life. Someone has to do it! Things can't remain as they are!_ Is there anyone else I could trust with this notebook? _Such an incredible person doesn't exist._ Yeah…_I can do it…_no…_only I can do it! I'll do it! I'll use the Death Note… and change the world!_


End file.
